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While travelng through Mexico, we climbed up quite a few of the Mayan and Aztecs’ pyramids. The statue above shows a priest, serving the rain god. The view from this particular pyramid was breath-taking. The ground has just been discovered and dug out a few years ago (maybe 10 years ago?) …

The picture above is titled ‘El Chocolatl’ and apparently pictures a chocolate god? We found it in one of the smaller museums close to an archaeological park.

We got away for a weekend to visit our parents in Ohio and since I have never been up to the lake that close, we decided to drive up to one of the islands and have some wine and enjoy ourselves there. Regarding the wine … well - it really makes you appreciate Pearmund Cellars and the Winery at La Grange I won’t call any names up there though … Later that day we went to a winery called Mon Ami and their Cabernet Sauvignon tasted really good along with the orange crusted salmon I had.

Anyway, what I wanted to mention is that we were walking across the island and found a chocolate museum. Skeptic as I am we went in and although I won’t spent any time describing the chocolate confections (more traditional, cream based american style) I have to say that the ‘museum’ is kind of cute and interesting. It is very small (one room) but it showcases a lot of older candy boxes from the US and it is nice to see the development of chocolate and candies here. I walked out surprised and was wondering if I would ever want to remind people of chocolate history in a future retail space - just another thing to add onto my wish list

Back at home I tried a new red from Australia (Red Belly Shiraz) and it paired quite
well with our Liberty Squares whiskey chocolates.

Oh, and although I did not make any pictures of the chocolate museum, I have some nice ones here from a guy telling us about the battle of lake Erie in 1813.

Ah, legendary chocolates. I had high expectations for these delights … I love the chocolate they produce, but never had any of their chocolate confections, so on our trip to NYC we had to step by and check out their store, which is a little hard to find, but once you made it, it looks really nice, dark and welcoming …. “home-y” I would say, the bar is a nice touch too!

The staff was very nice and friendly - they didn’t have any problems with me taking pictures of the place and were informing us about their selections.

We should have taken notes on what is what …. we did not get any identification sheet or sth. similar and I couldn’t find anything online either, many were self-explanatory though, let’s get started:

The dark chocolate in the background was the Creme Brulee (?) one. It had a suttle caramel flavor to it (could have been more burned) and tasted very rich, buttery and a little sweet. Vanilla bean visible in there too and the dark chocolate on the outside was delicious. The milk chocolate enrobed chocolate was marzipan, orange flavored with a caramel layer inside. The marzipan was pretty dry and flavored with orange liquor (grand marnier?), the caramel layer was more caramel-ly than in the creme brulee one, too bad the marzipan was so dry though … That one was our favorite - by far - of this selection. Very intense Armagnac flavor with dried plums - what a combination! We will attempt to make a chocolate confection with these very ingredients later this year - I will get dried plums this week and put ‘em in some Armagnac jars …. The one big difference of ours will be, that we will not use a mold like Cluizel, but rather hand-cut this confection as well. It will be challenging to get this intense flavor in the ganache, because I can not make it too liquid. I am sure we’ll manage to perfect it though Who wants to be the taste-tester? A light lemon ganach, just flavored with lemon zest, reminded us on a lemon-pepper we made once. The ganache was slightly whipped maybe? A gentle chocolate, nice for the summer, although some people might like it more refreshing … A cork of a wine bottle - no wait, you can actually eat it I think it was supposed to be “Bordeaux” in there - we were kind of disappointed though. The ganache seemed dry and maybe a little old, the mold was quite irregularly filled and flavor wasn’t distinct. Pistachio marzipan is a little dry and the pstachio flvor is not very strong - but you can definetly tell what it is. Coffee Gianduja comes to mind - that’s pretty much all there is to say. Very strong and bold coffee flavor - very similar to our “Espresso, instead of hazelnut paste (like ours) it probably has Hazelnut Gianduja in it. Yummy (yeah, I like coffee) Too bad I don’t know the name of it anymore, but this was delicious as well! Milk chocolate on the outside (some hazelnut crunchies mixed in), then a layer of marzipan and a very soft ganache center with Rum. Fantastic combination of textures and flavors, classic but oh so good. On the image you see the last bite, it probably was 2-3 inches long. The ganache on the inside must have been chilled and then rolled into the marzipan - we actually did a “Bouche” like this at TasteDC in one of our workshops in Georgetown …. A good product for the colder month as well, I personally like it, because there is so much labor involved and it makes it so much more valueable and appreciated.

I love Cluizel’s chocolate and chocolate confections. Traditional and well balanced. I think it is hard to maintain such a high level of quality on the other side of the big pond though, without being there yourself. We have yet to see the store in Paris, which is owned by his daughter, but my parents were there and said it looked absolutely fabulous. Next time I am in Paris I’ll have to check it out ….

We had some chocolate craving yesterday afternoon and decided to check out some of the chocolate confections we brought back from our NY trip earlier this week. The four pralines from La Maison du Chocolat look a little beaten up, but this is just because of the warm weather and not perfect transportation from NY to DC …. when we were entering the store on Madison Avenue in New York, all chocolates in the showcase looked absolutely flawless. I am not going over the top here - I inspected the pralines very closely and really - they almost look like molded pieces or made out of plastic. Here and there you could see an uneven edge, but the coating was very shiny and flawless. I think they get a special mix of couverture from Valrhona and I would love to know the cocoa butter content on that ….. uh well.

We took four pralines with us home and also two larger dessert chocolates. Those we haven’t tried yet, but they are a whopping 76g and 54g and that’s quite an impressive weight - I am very eager to try them out and compare them with our creations we did a few weeks ago for a local restaurant …

Figaro Noir

“Hazelnut and almond praline wrapped in dark chocolate” says the description. It has a very dark and almost bitter flavor to it - I loved it. Very smooth - it reminded me of a “Haselnuss Bitter Nougat” in Germany …. intense and long lasting flavor. Right now the only praline of ours similar in texture is the Pistachio Almond, bu it is much sweeter. Although many people like the sweetness in it, I love the bitter nutty tastes. I can see a similar praline in our future

Othello

“Ganache infused with honey” …. Delicious also. Very flowery, we get lavender from it - did they use lavender honey? A tiny bit grainy, probably a creamy honey though, that would explain the grainy-ness - would make it easier to make the ganache though. Also a little firm …. we have not made a dedicated honey praline yet, but it is a great idea and I can’t wait to try it out ……. if there is enough time this summer, but that’s somehow always the problem: time ….

Anastasia

“Gianduja praline” … again not as sweet as our gianduja, very buttery and it also has some tiny crunchies. The crunchies I like bigger myself, we put in some caramelized chopped almonds to give it some crunch. I did like the buttery mouthfeel though.

Bacchus

“Ganache with raisins flambeed in rum” ….. Yeah, that sounds good and it tastes delicious. This fall we will have a rum raisin praline - it will be a little different than this one though - more on that when the time is right

This praline tastes great though - the rum flavor reminded me of the rum raisins of my dad …. he always has this big tub of rum raisins in his cabinet above his working table in his pastry shop … in the mornings, when he makes fresh “Rum-Sahne-Torte” he whips up some cream and throws in some rum raisins - voila, there is your cream cake …. delicious!

We sat down in La Maison du Chocolat for a little bit to have a hot chocolate “Carraccas” whis was very intense, although not as rich as for example Burdick’s hot chocolate (which is done with cream milk) - I would guess LMDC uses water for the chocolate and serves it with a side of whipped cream. I like this approach much better for two reasons. 1) I grew up knowing hot chocolate being cocoa powder/milk powder/sugar made with water and whipped cream on top from my parents cafe - this is how it is served in Germany. 2) Although Burdick’s hot chocolate is delicious and rich, it is a little overwhelming and you got to have a good appetite to be able to finish a cup.

The staff was friendly, the store bright in brown tones - not as home-y as Michel Cluizel, but still nice. I would definetly recommend visiting La Maison du Chocolat, even just to take a look at the confections.

We finally got to taste the Gilli chocolates we brought from Firenze and we had high hopes, because of the unusual flavor combinations. Here are our notes and some pictures:

  You can find more information about the oldest cafe in Firenze here.

This was the tabacco confection. We wondered if they were made similar to the tea ganaches, were you steep the tea leaves in the cream or similar, maybe giving it an herby or green flavor. Instead we were surprised by a very smoky and in the end peppery/spicy flavor. It actually tasted like a smoked cigarette. And I am not kidding! I smoked cigarettes for about nine years, roughly a pack a day and I was very familiar with the taste

We were kind of disappointed by this. Who wants to taste this I wonder …. I know that there are still many smokers in Italy (much more than here, a little less than in Germany right now), but this still came surprising. One day we might experiment with tabacco leaves, but it will be a bright flavor and nothing that smoky or dark like at Gilli’s.

Balsamico. We had high hopes for this one too. And the flavor was surprising, although not as devastating as the tobacco one. The first similar flavor coming to mind was cheesecake. Mmmmmmh cheesecake I wonder if this is what you get when you pair Balsamico with white couverture and cream. I was surprised that there were so many ganaches made with white chocolate. For the Balsamic I would have maybe used a darker milk or a dark chocolate - maybe dark chocolate is too overpowering? I know that one day I will try the same thing, with a nice old Balsamico and see how it turns out - maybe I use it in savory dishes first, together with chocolate?

Tartufo. We hoped it had savory truffle in it - and it might have, but the flavor wasn’t that distinct. It had a very firm texture, and enrobed very thin. The design wasn’t perfect, but I always like to see little imperfections, as it shows you it was made by hand, by a person.

Rose. Yeah, definitely the rose! Not a favorite of mine, I always think it tastes like soap - Melanie seemed to like it though. It was a very clear, almost too powerful flavor - only almost though. Why the milk chocolate shell in between - I don’t know, maybe they had to use them - maybe they wanted the optics ….

Pear pate de fruit. Very delicious, a hint of green apple in there too. Used were two molds for the shape and a little plastic thingy acting as a stem (I know these from Germany in marzipan fruits). Very coarse sugar on the outside and much bigger than our pate de fruit. I like the idea of representing the fruit in its shape, but I don’t like the idea of using molds, so personally I stick with my square shape for now.

All in all we enjoyed the tasting. It is always exciting to taste other flavors and regions and people’s work and with a history like the one from Gilli’s comes a lot of respect on my end.

Although we had little time to spend on our own in Firenze last week, we couldn’t pass the opportunity to check out the local chocolate scene a little bit - especially since the ‘chocolate valley’ was nearby (around Pistoia). We checked out a little cafe that offered homemade chocolates, although they do also purchase some confections from local chocolatiers. The name is Hemingway and their cafe is dark, but still hip and trendy. We have only sampled a few of their chocolate and have a lot more to go. Here are some pictures i took in the hotel room, the chocolates got a little scratched, but it gives you a good idea on what they look like …

This one has a very hot taste that gets you in the end, although we did not get any description with them, this one must be a chili/pink peppercorn …

a flavor that is hard to distinguish,  although it tastes very good. It must be some kind of liquor, a sweet but not too fruity direction.

Hazelnut milk chocolate. We were a little disappointed, it almost tastes like just milk chocolate in a cup with a roasted hazelnut in the center.

Cinnamon … tastes very much like more christmas-y spices too … like clove, vanilla - fantastic flavors, smooth center, great chocolate … although I would not consider it a flavor for the warmer seasons.

Jasmine Tea …. I love Jasmine Tea and in long-term we will probably have a year-round flavor of this one too. I might enrobe it with a milk chocolate though. This one was very sweet and had a very strong flavor to it - the latter i like, the sweetness I would try to reduce.

Earl Grey Tea. Much sweeter than ours and no bitterness at all. They must not bring the cream to a boil with the leaves, but take them ou beforehand. Although this is an interesting technique, I kind of like the bitter taste that you get with Tea - just like when you make yourself a cup of it.

This must have been a wine that they used with it. It almost tastes mint-y and it would have been great to have had the actual wine with it.

Tomorrow we taste more chocolates from a different store - the oldest pastry shop in Firenze - I have not made any pictures of those confections yet either though - nighty night!

We finally made it home again - just in time for Father’s Day. We had a troublesome way back, because of flight congestion in JFK (don’t fly in there on Sundays!). After taxing for 2 hours we made it to the gate to learn that our flight was delayed …. boarding 2 hours later the flight got finally cancelled and we found ourselves at 11:30PM in JFK. Getting another flight early the next day wasn’t easy - we had to opt for flying over Cincinnati to Dulles…. A very restless night at LaGuardia finished our stay in NYC, the next flight was boarding 6:15AM …

Well, eventually we arrived in Dulles, about 36h after starting our journey in Rome. The luggage is still on its way and hopefully arrives this afternoon. We are just getting everything ready to ship today - Father’s Day orders have been plentyful and without the help of Cyndy and Bob we wouldn’t have been able to fulfill all those.

We brought a lot of chocolates with us and will have to analyze and sample those later today or tomorrow - luckily we put them in the carry-on. We got some interesting new ideas from the look at the Italian chocolate scene - but I won’t say anything yet. I will post more images of the italian chocolates later as I still have to prep them for the web.

So, gotta run to send those packages out!

Yesterday we met the bride and groom and had a nice long night with our families. Today we will walk through Florence and although it is not our first time here, there is always so much to see new and old ….

We saw some chocolate shops already and we will be sure to check out the local chocolate scene here in Firenze as well.

At home everything runs steady, new orders are being fulfilled under 24h and slowly you can feel the impact of Father’s Day. When we come back we will be making ganaches again and probably enrobe in the first week of our return. So, gotta go now - breakfast is waiting

… sitting in a pretty wine bar in a cute little town in Tuscany. We had some wine tastings this morning - great Brunello from Casanova di Neri. Luigi was very informative and we saw their new cellar and wine production - great to see that the bottles get hand-labeled!

As I type we lost our internet connection again - there is a thunderstorm driving by and we have several power outages, which make the routers around town go down as well. Today we will probably make a quick stop in Siena and check out some pastry shop there, that we heard is nice. On the weekend we might try to check out the ‘chocolate valley’ how Luigi put it …. never heard of it before, but there must be good artisan chocolatiers there good company to have